The present invention relates generally to agricultural machinery and, more particularly, to an arrangement for enhanced transfer of harvested crop from a feeder housing to a separation unit in a combine harvester.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,419 describes an axial flow type combine harvester having a feeder housing in its front end that distributes harvested crops from the front end of the combine to a separation unit. The separation unit includes a rotary driven separation rotor arranged in a rotor housing and has a feed end and a discharge end. The area where the harvested crops are fed from the feeder housing into the rotor housing is referred to as a feeding zone. The separation unit also includes a separation zone in which a sieve device is located in the rotor housing. The area at the discharge end of the rotor housing is referred to as a discharge zone.
According to the disclosure of the ""419 patent, the harvested material is fed into the rotor housing from a position above the shaft of the separation rotor. To ease the flow of harvested good into the rotor housing, a contoured cowling forming a throat and having a bottom surface above the shaft of the separation rotor is provided. However, this design results in undesirable feeding characteristics. Therefore, the axial flow type combines introduced into the market later utilized a feeding system in which harvested crops were distributed into the separation unit from the front of the rotor housing or from underneath the rotor housing.
German patent DD 216 846 illustrates this type of feeding system in an axial flow type combine. An infeed plate is arranged at the bottom of the front end of the rotor housing to transfer harvested good from the feeder house into the axial rotor housing. This results in the harvested crops being distributed into the rotor housing in the bottom section of the cross section through the rotor housing. The described infeed plate is intended to ease the transfer of crops into the rotor housing through the use of a variety of different sections. A conical section on one side of the infeed plate curls crops into the bottom of the rotor housing. A ramp is located on the other side of the rotor housing to lift harvested material up and feeds it into the rotor from a higher position. A long-stretching triangular bottom plate in the middle of the infeed plate distributes crops into the rotor.
PCT/US97/02432 discloses a new concept for separating the kernel fraction from the straw and chaff fractions of the harvested good in which harvested material is conveyed into the rotor housing from above. However, this disclosure provides no details as to how this should work properly under all harvesting conditions.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.
An aspect of the present invention is to provide an arrangement that enhances the transfer of harvested crops from a feeder housing to a separation unit in a combine harvester.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an arrangement for transferring harvested crops from a feeder housing to separation unit in a combine harvester by feeding the crops into the separation unit from a position above the separation unit""s rotor shaft.
In accordance with the above aspects of the invention, there is provided a combine harvester having a feeder housing; a separation unit including a rotor driven by a shaft and arranged in a rotor housing, said separation unit having a feed end and a discharge end; and a transfer mechanism located in the region of the intersection of the feeder housing and the feed end of the separation unit, the transfer mechanism including a plurality of auger blades connected with the rotor in the region of the feeding zone; a rotating element located in the feeder housing and having an axis of rotation perpendicular to the axis of the rotor and above the feed end of the rotor, wherein the rotating element feeds harvested crops to the separation unit from underneath the rotating element""s axis of rotation; and a transition housing connecting the feeder housing and the rotor housing and having a plurality of interior edges forming a feeding opening through the transition housing wherein the interior edge of the transition housing that forms the bottom of the feeding opening is longer than the interior edge that forms the top of the feeding opening, and wherein said transition housing projects up to the width of the feeder housing and has a concave bend to accommodate the circumference of the rotating element.
In another embodiment of the invention, the interior edge of the transition housing forming the bottom of the feeding opening is provided with a plurality of floors, each floor being at a different height.
These aspects are merely illustrative aspects of innumerable aspects associated with present invention and should not be deemed as limiting in any manner. These and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent form the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with referenced drawings.